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14 June 2010
The pattern behind self-deception: Michael Shermer on TED.com
Michael Shermer says the human tendency to believe strange things — from alien abductions to dowsing rods — boils down to two of the brain’s most basic, hard-wired survival skills. He explains what they are, and how they get us into trouble. (Recorded at TED2010, February 2010 in Long Beach, CA. Duration: 19:01)
Watch Michael Shermer’s talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 700+ TEDTalks.
Discuss this Blog Post
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Stanis?aw Krawczyk
Jun 14 2010…For instance, in Aaron Antonovsky’ salutological approach to health and disease it is strongly emphasized that a sense of coherence (which includes i.a. the belief that the world is understandable and predictable) plays an important role in our wellbeing.
Of course, this does not exclude the idea of evolutionary roots itself; however, the type I / type II explanation is somewhat dubious.
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maria jim
Jun 16 2010Amazing and sparkling! Such talent is admirable of praise.
Thanks
Maria Jim
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Stanis?aw Krawczyk
The talk is obviously interesting and well delivered. Still, I feel it has a little patternicity itself.
Firstly, the similarity between schizophrenia and patternicity is superficial. Not all the people with schizophrenia are paranoid, although this is certainly the best known type of the disease. Apart from that, the core of schizophrenia appears to be in the disintegration of personality, not in the hyperactivity of any single brain-mind mechanism.
More importantly, is the example with the predator not arbitrary? Let us think about a type I error that is more harmful than type II. For instance, after having eaten a few kinds of mushrooms, an animal might “think” that all other types were edible, too, including toadstools.
Therefore, I am not sure I am convinced as far as the evolutionary basis for patternicity is concerned. Personally, I would say that patterns simply make the world look more understandable and predictable, which might be needed for human beings and animals alike.